Combination of immunotherapies for severe allergic asthma

Abstract

Introduction

Difficult-to-treat or severe persistent asthma accounts for 5–10% of the asthma population worldwide. However, this group of patients creates a higher burden on health systems due to their morbidity and need for long-term and additional treatment. Biological drugs constitute an alternative therapy in the treatment of patients with refractory asthma. In cases where inhalant allergy is part of the pathomechanism, allergen-specific immunotherapy (SIT) is a causative treatment option for allergic asthma. However, SIT is contraindicated for uncontrolled asthma and cannot be administered according to the guidelines. This is due to the risk of further worsening of uncontrolled asthma during treatment.

Case study

We herein report a case of a 67-year-old male with severe allergic asthma who was successfully treated with SIT after asthma control was achieved by using target treatments.

Results

Complete control of asthma was achieved, and SIT with allergens from early flowering trees (birch-alder-hazel) was administered. Further, no asthmatic exacerbations or decrease in respiratory function occurred during the 15 months of treatment with mepoluzimab. He did not need any oral glucocorticosteroids.

Conclusion

The case report presented here suggests the effectiveness of an individualized approach and phenotype-specific treatment of patients who cannot receive allergen-specific immunotherapy due to the contraindication uncontrolled asthma and who receive SIT after asthma control is achieved by using target treatments.

Keywords:

• specific immunotherapy
• uncontrolled asthma
• omalizumab
• mepolizumab

Declaration of interest

The authors have stated explicitly that there are no conflicts of interest in connection with this article.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Federal Ministry for Science and Education (BMBF), German Center for Lung Research.